Alta is a town you go through to get somewhere else. We get a lot of travelers passing through. Many take the opportunity to fill up on petrol and food before the long trek south.
The town centre is a favorite stop for bikers. Right in the square there is the most popular cafe-restaurant that has an unconventional outside dining area. It's perfect for a Sunday lunch for the bikers (as usually nothing else is open).
It's fun to go tourist watching, to try and pick what country people are from. We find them just as strange and interesting as they find us.

That’s all fine and dandy, but how do the cycles sound? Here in the U.S. many, many cycles are extremely loud – they can be heard blocks away. There are city and state ordinances that prohibit loud motorcycles, but the police do not enforce them.

What’s it’s like in Norway concerning this?

____________________from L-Jay:

We don’t hear them at all, even when we drive the highway. I don’t think people are into loud bikes in Europe, especially those who go on tour. Most of the people I see riding them through Alta are at least 40 years old and I guess a little more sensile 😉 .

I don’t doubt that at all. It’s common for men to by a bike at the “mid-life crisis” age of around 40 or so. Here in the U.S. it’s more of a social symbol – a rather feeble one at that! Bikers switch the exhaust pipes on their bikes for one that produces a much louder sound (
Unfortunately, those around these metallic-beasts are the ones who have to suffer.